Books of hours were among the most common devotional texts of the Middle Ages. Produced throughout western Europe until the early 16th century, books of hours were important status items, often elaborately illuminated, that might be tailored to the specific tastes of well-heeled clients to reflect interests in particular saints or to incorporate other elements of their personal lives and religious, political, or social commitments. Although the specifics of its origin remain uncertain, the APS Book of Hours is organized in a fairly typical fashion. Beginning with a calendar specifying feast days and other holy days, the book includes readings from the gospels, prayers (Obsecro te, O Intemerata), the Hours of the Virgin, the Hours of the Cross, the seven penitential psalms (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129), the litanies and prayers, the office for the dead, and additional prayers devoted to Saints Barbara, Anthony, Margaret, and Sebastian. Each of the 22 sections begins with a full-page illustration, many with additional vignettes. An additional vignette of a figure of death is included in the office of the dead. The volume was donated to the APS by Detmar Basse-Müller in 1806.

Books of hours were among the most common devotional texts of the Middle Ages. Produced throughout western Europe until the early 16th century, books of hours were important status items, often elaborately illuminated, that might be tailored to the specific tastes of well-heeled clients to reflect interests in particular saints or to incorporate other elements of their personal lives and religious, political, or social commitments. Although the illuminated pages have been removed from this book of hours, the gift of Timothy Matlack in 1811, it remains an elegant and ornate manuscript, with initials and line fillers in prominent gilt, red, and blue. Only one page remains from the calendar (the last), however many of the major elements of the book can be identified, including the prayers to the Virgin, the Stabat Mater Dolorosa and stations of the cross, the penitential psalms, litanies, and prayers, and the office of the dead.

Volume 3 (G-L) of a biographical and geographical dictionary of Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries in Central and South America, with citations of printed and manuscript sources. Primarily 17th century missionaries.

Material pertaining to the Walker regime in Guatemala, with many letters to and from John P. Heiss.

Founded in Cap François, Saint Domingue (now Haiti) in August 1785, the Cercle des Philadelphes was one of the most prestigious colonial learned societies of the Ancien Regime. During its brief seven year existence, the Cercle pursued an agenda of promoting improvements in agriculture, manufactures, the arts and sciences, published five volumes of memoirs, and established correspondence with their peers in the American Philosophical Society and other learned societies. Their foreign membership included both Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. The Cercle des Philadelphes Collection is a small, but important assemblage of documents relating to French colonial science. Each of the documents is associated with Louis Narcisse Baudry de Lozières, the first president of the Cercle, including three certificates appointing him to office, and two important addresses. The first of these appears to be his opening remarks to the Cercle at its first public meeting on Aug. 15, 1784. The second is an early, but undated document outlining the organization of the Cercle and its aims.

Comedies and tragedies, possibly not all by Mme. Brillon, entitled :La mort de Sénèque," "Charles le Mauvais, roi de Navarre; ou, La clémence du roi Jean," "Charles premier, roi d'Angleterre," "Marguerite d'Anjou, reine d'Angleterre," "Molière aux enfers," "Le songe, opéra comique," and "Le bienfaisant maladroit; ou, plus de bruit que de besogne."

This is a Khmer (Cambodian) Mul script, partly in Pali.

Principally by Mme. Brillon, these compositions include marches, sonatas, and songs. Included is "La Marche des Insurgents" which Mme. Brillon composed after receiving news from Benjamin Franklin of General Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga in 1777.

There are 153 letters in this collection, many addressed to Aubrey Lackington Moore, an English writer who tried to reconcile evolution and traditional Christianity. Some letters discuss scientific questions of the day, while others are formal social notes. Also includes 24 clipped signatures, inlcuding those of Sir Henry Wentworth Acland; Goerge Bentham; H. A. Bruce; S. H. Butcher; Matthewss Duncan; Percy Gardner; George Gritchett; G. Grote; Alfred Cort Haddon; Sir Prescott Gardner Hewitt; William Guyer Hunter; Thomas Henry Huxley; John Lingard; Thomas Babington Macauley; Miss K. Aubrey Moore; Louis Pasteur; Sir John Russell Reynolds, bart.; Thomas Smith; James Leigh Strachan-Davidson; Agnes Strickland; and Arthur Thomason.

This volume was kept while Piggott was imprisoned by Napoleon at Fontainebleau. Subjects mentioned include astronomy, comets, and botanical gardens.

The Scaliger Family Papers, when taken together, trace the history of a noble family that was originally from Italy but lived primarily in Agen, France from the mid-1500s through the mid-1800s. Beginning with the patriarch, Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558), a celebrated Italian scholar and physician, the members of the Scaliger family upheld an illustrious reputation over the centuries as scholars, military leaders, and noblemen. Throughout their family's history, the Scaligers maintained that they were descended from the Della Scallas, Princes of Verona. It is as a result of the necessity to defend this claim as well as later attempts to prove their ties to their noble heritage that this collection of documents has remained so well intact. The Scaliger Family Papers is a collection that encompasses several different kinds of documents that span from 1539 to 1862 including letters, genealogical material, works by members of the Scaliger family, as well as military, legal, and financial documents.

Though the Miscellaneous Manuscripts collection is composed of items that do not fall readily into any other existing collection, the two dominant intellectual areas represented in the collection are Early American History and History of Science.